SOUTH DEERFIELD — Revenue taken in by Frontier and Union 38 regional school districts for the free breakfast and lunch programs will not be enough to cover its expenses, meaning the School Committee must find the money to offset the cost.
Business Administrator Shelley Poreda explained to Frontier School Committee members last week that they’ll need to reallocate funds in the budget, potentially dipping into School Choice money or general funds. She said the districts are anticipating around $100,000 less in revenue.
“We can’t run the account in deficit at the end of the (fiscal) year” in June, she said.
Prior to the pandemic, Poreda said, students paid for food unless they qualified for free or reduced-price meals.
Now, however, Poreda said breakfast and lunch are free to all district students as part of a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which started when the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the nation. She said the school districts receive reimbursement from the state and federal governments, but it is not enough to avoid a deficit.
“I think the government has the best of intentions … but it’s certainly putting our district in a position of hardship for this year,” she said.
She explained that fewer students are in the schools each day due to the hybrid education model. (On Dec. 11, Frontier Regional School reverted to a remote model, due to rising COVID-19 case numbers locally.) As a result, the opportunity to serve lunches to the entire school population is reduced.
“We’ve also had to reduce our a la carte offerings and change how lunch is served overall given COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines, which has resulted in less sales,” she added.
No motion was made by the School Committee to reallocate funds in the budget to cover the deficit. Poreda said she brought it up to members last week so they wouldn’t be caught by surprise at a meeting in the future.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com of 413-772-0261, ext. 262.